Bottle filling machines and lift devices therefor



June 17, 1958 D. P. s. FOX ET AL 2,839,095

BOTTLE FILLING MACHINES AND LIFT DEVICES THEREFOR Filed Sept. 15, 1955 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 fig. 4.

INVENTORS DousLnsPsFoX ATToRNEYS June 17, 1958 D. P. 5. FOX ET AL 2,839,095

BOTTLE FILLING MACHINES AND LIFT DEVICES THEREFOR Filed Sept. 13, 1955 v s Sheets-Sheet 3 19 m g I fig. 5

mvsmoas :bousLns P. 3. Fox

y w'lLLmm A.CLA'RKE 7M 62%, hwy Wm ATTORNEYS Unite tates atent ficc BOTTLE FILLING MACHINES AND LIFT DEVICES THEREFUR Douglas P. 5. For, Sheniield, and William A. Clarke, Hutton, England Application September 13, 1955, Serial No. 534,114

Claims priority, application Great Britain September 24, 1954 7 Claims. (Cl. 141149) The invention relates to multi-head rotary bottle filling machines and more particularly to the fluid pressure lifts which are used in such machines for presenting the empty bottles to the filling heads at each rotation of the table, such lifts being of the type in which the upward movement the bottle platform is derived solely from a fluid pressure or spring-loaded jack incorporated in the bottle lift, the platform being withdrawn during each cycle to a lowered position in which a filled bottle can be removed and an empty bottle installed, by the timed co-operation of a cam-follower on the bottle lift with a stationary cam track.

In one known form of bottle lift of such type, wherein the jack operates with a single stage, variations in the distance through which the bottle must be raised bring it into the correct position relative to the filling head, due to the inevitable occasional presence of bottles of nonstandard height, have been accommodated by variations in the stroke of the jack. This is disadvantageous because of the consequent necessity for providing the camtrack with an inclined leading-in portion of suflicient length to ensure that it will co-operate effectively with the cam-followers of the bottle lifts over a wide vertical range, and in a machine of a given circumference it follows that the space allotted to that part of the camtrack which operates to lower the lifts to the bottledischarging station is inefiiciently used. The object of the present invention is to provide an improved form of lifting mechanism by which the aforementioned disadvantage may be avoided, permitting the cam-track to be designed so that a substantial acceleration of the bottlewithdrawal operation may be achieved. Sundry other advantages obtained by the invention will be referred to in the following description.

in the bottle lifting mechanism of a multi-head rotary bottle filling machine of the type referred to, the present invention proposes the use of two-stage bottle lifting jacks arranged so that the members thereof on which the cam-followers are carried operate on the first stage r with a uniform stroke of pre-determined length, whilst the bottle platforms or their equivalent are carried by secondary members which operate on the second stage and which are capable of accommodating themselves to variations in bottle height.

it will accordingly be seen that since the members of the jacks carrying the cam-followers have a fixed stroke, uniform throughout the machine at every cycle, it becomes possible to employ a cam-track in which the part used to lead in the cam-followers of successive lifts is of the shortest possible length, enabling the designer to include in the allotted space a section of camtract by which the bottle-withdrawal operation is substantially accelerated, and the speed of operation of the machine considerably increased. The fixed stroke of the first-stage unit of the lifting jacks may be ensured by the provision in respect of each jack on the rotary structure of the machine of a fixed abutment which is located accurately at the desired distance from the position occupied by a movable abutment member of the first-stage unit when the lift is in its lowest station, the stroke on the first stage being determined by the impingement of the movable abutment on the fixed abutment.

Another feature of the invention is an arrangement whereby each lift is provided with means for supporting two or more bottles, preferably disposed circumferentially with respect to the machine. A preferred form comprises two second-stage units, respectively communicating with the first-stage cylinder of the jack, and each carrying a bottle platform, the cylinder diameters of the second-stage units being so related to the cylinder diameter of the first-stage unit that the latter reaches the end of its stroke before the second-stage units take up their final position preparatory to the filling operation. Such an arrangement, in which the machine has only half as many lifts as the number of hottle platforms, permits the lifts to be construed considerably more robustly and with more substantially designed and more eificient torquereaction struts than has heretofore been practicable in machines having individual lifts for the bottle platforms, owing to the restriction in such machines of the space available for the accommodation of the lifts.

The manner in which the invention may be carried into effect will be more fully understood by reference to the accompanying diagrammatic drawings, in which there is illustrated one form of bottle lift incorporated in a bottle-filling machine. In said drawings Fig. 1 is a partly sectional elevation of one bottle lift, Fig. 2 is a section taken on the line 11-11 of Fig. 1, Fig. 3 is a plan thereof, Fig. 4 is a section taken on the line lV-IV of Fig. l, and Fig. 5 is a diagram illustrating the withdrawal of the lifts from the filling station by the cam track.

It will be seen from the drawings that the bottle lift assembly is mounted upon a frame comprising two vertically spaced circular rails 10 and 11 which are connected by a number of columnar struts 12, screw-threaded extensions 121 and 122 on the ends of each strut being respectively received in tapped holes in the underside of the upper rail 10 and passed through holes in the lower rail 11 to be secured by nuts 123.

Each lift comprises a cylinder 13, which is mounted for vertical sliding movement in a gland-nut 14 in the upper rail 10 and is provided at its base with a fixed cross-head 15 the arms 151 of which are furnished with semi-circular ends arranged to slide along the struts 12. Within the cylinder is a stationary piston 16 fixed to the upper end of a tubular rod 17 which extends downwardly through the lower rail 11, the base of the cylinder 13 being provided with a thrust-collar 18 and a cushioning disc 131. The upper end of the cylinder 13 carries a bracket 19 on which is supported a bifurcated block 20, each limb 201 of which constitutes a stationary piston working in a cylinder 21 which is guided for vertical sliding movement by a cylindrical member 22 fixed upon the block 20. Each cylinder 21 carries a bottle platform 23.

Working fluid under pressure is supplied constantly to the chamber 24, contained in the cylinder 13 above the piston 16 and beneath the block 20, through a supply pipe 25 which communicates with the interior of the tubular piston-rod 17 by means of a T-joint 251, the upper end of said rod 17 being open to said chamber. A duct 26 formed in each limb of the block 20 leads through the piston-portion 201 thereof to the interior of the cylinder 21. In a modified embodiment of the invention, the second-stage units are actuated by springs compressed between the block 20 and the bottle platforms 23, saidv springs being so adjusted as to ensure that the stroke of the first-stage unit is always completed, the degree of compression of the springs being dependent on the length of the bottle. V 7

It will be seen that't-he first-stage unit of each lift is constituted by the movable cylinder 13 and fixed piston 16, by the co-operation-of which the lift is raised througha fixed stroke determined by the impingement of an abutment 152, formed upon the cross-head member 15, against the undersurface of theipart 141 of the gland-nut 14. The second-stage unit of the lift is constituted by the pair of movable cylinders 21 and the fixed pistons 201; these second-stage units are arranged to take up their final position after'the first stage cylinder 13 has completed its stroke, by reason of the fact that the combined crosssectional areas of the cylinders 21 are somewhat less than that of the chamber 241 When the first-stage unit is released from the fixed cam-track, the cylinder 13 rises until the bottles on the platform 23 contact the filling head. The cylinders 21 then collapse and are compressed until the end of the stroke of the first-stage unit is completed by the abutment of the member 152 against the surface 141. The extent of such compression of the cylinders 21 is dependent upon the length of the bottles, and the arrangement is such as to compensate automatically for the wide variation in bottle-lengths which is encountered in practice.

The stationary cam track which is used to effect the successive withdrawal of the lifts from the filling position is shown atr27 (Fig. Each lift is provided with a cam-follower 28, which is rotatably mounted upon a lateral stud 29 suitably fixed to the member (Figs. 2 and 4), and as the rotary table reaches the position at which each lift should be withdrawn, the respective camfollowers 28 engage the lead-in portion 271 of the camtrack 27 and by co-operation with the latter they serve to retract the lifts rapidly to their lowest station at which the filled bottles 'are' removed from, and, fresh empty bottles placed on, the platforms 23. By reason of the fact that the cam-followers 28 are mounted on the fixedstroke portions of the lifts, as hereinbefore described, each cam-follower 23 engages the part 271 of the cam-track at the same point; it is consequently unnecessaryto devote valuable space to the provision of a lead-in portion 271 of sufficient length to co-operate with cam-followers at different heights, and the cam-track 27 is accordingly designed to bring about a very speedy withdrawal of the lifts, thereby substantiallyincreasing the speed of operation of the machine. V j

Torsional stresses imparted to the lifts by the engagement of, the cam-track 27 by the cam-followers 28 are resisted by the pressure of the parts 151 of the cross-hand members 15 against the columns 12. A sufiicient degree of clearance between the bearing surfaces of the parts 151 and 12 is provided to ensure that the necessary sliding action between such parts is permitted without undue frictional resistance in the event of slight distortion or displacement occurring in the cylinders 13 or columns 12.

What we claim as our invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a multi-headrotai'y bottle'filling machine, firststage means including fluid means for lifting a plurality of bottle plat-forms through a predetermined stroke and second-stage means including fluid means connected to the fluid means of said first-stage means for lifting said bottle platforms through a variable stroke after the stroke of said first-stage means is completed.

2. In a multi-head rotary bottle filling machine, firststage means for lifting a plurality of bottle platforms through a predetermined stroke and second-stage means connected to said first-stage means for lifting said bottle platforms through a variable stroke after the stroke of said first-stage means is completed, said first-stage means including fixed abutment means and movable abutment means, said fixed abutment means being located accurately at a predetermined distance from the position occupied by said movable abutment means when said first-stage means is at its lowest stage, said predetermined stroke being determined by the impingement of said movable abutment means against said fixed abutment means,

3. In a multi-stage multi-head rotary bottle filling machine, control means, first-stage means operated by said control means for lifting a plurality OflbOflZlC platforms through a predetermined stroke and second-stage means connected to said first-stage means and operated by said control means for lifting said bottle platforms through a variable stroke after the stroke of the first-stage means is completed. V

4. A machine as claimed in claim 3, wherein said firststage means comprises a cylinder guide for slideable vertical axial movement, a stationary'piston in said cylinder attached by a tubular rod to a part of the table, a block closing the cylinder head and means for admitting working fluid under pressure through'said rod to the cylinder space above the piston, and a cam-follower mounted on said cylinder for co-operation'with the stationary cam-track of the machine. 7

5. A machine according to claim 4, wherein each cylinder of said first-stage means carries an abutment which, when the first-stage cylinder reaches the limit of its upward stroke, impinges against a part of the rotary table.-

6. A machine according to claim 4, wherein each cylin der of said first-stage means is provided with across-head slidably guided by vertical columns spaced on opposite sides of the cylinder, and wherein a face on the upper side of the cross-head is arranged to abut against a fixed part of therotary table on completionof the stroke of the first-stage cylinder. w

7. A machine according to ,claim 4, said second-stage means comprising twosecond-stage fluid-pressure jacks respectively mounting a pair of bottle, platforms, the combined cross-sectional areas of the two second-stage jack cylinders beingle'ss than that of the first-stage unit cylinder, said first-stage means including a block at the head'of said first-stage cylinder,'said block supporting said second stage means jacks.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

